Undoing Aging

[Overload]

For the first time in human history, we are sufficiently advanced to start doing something about aging. I can think of nothing more pressing, yet a large majority of people steadfastly defend death by aging, or irrationally deny that anything can be done about it. There was a time when, due to poor sanitation and lack of medicines against infection, the average lifespan was around 30 years. We've remedied that, and now face a new wall: the illnesses of old age, namely heart disease and Alzheimer's. It's important to understand that these are not diseases in the traditional sense, such as infections which can be eliminated, but a direct result of the body's normal operations, and its imperfect repair mechanisms. These are lifelong processes, continuous damage accumulation, which only eventually reach an intolerable threshold, which is when we decide to call it a disease. Aging is not immutable. Aging is not mystical. Aging is not a good thing. If you think it is, then you must also be in favor of the various things that kill the elderly, because there is no distinction. is a good overview of the paradigm shift we're in the midst of. I urge everyone to watch this video before engaging in discussion. It's important to understand just how feasible such therapies are. The work mentioned regarding atherosclerosis has already had a company formed around it, so those treatments will likely be some of the first. If you agree, and want to do something about it, donating to SENS is a good place to start. You can also set them as your Amazon Smile beneficiary.

We have the power to fund this research ten times over. Once this early stage work is far enough along to be not-so-risky, investors will pour billions into it. Getting to that point, however, is going to take all of us. I've got $4k in debt and less than a grand in the bank, but even I can afford to donate a couple bucks a month. If enough of us do the same, we can crowdfund the hell out of this. Just look at how much is being raised for the Sanders campaign.

Speaking of Sanders, you'll often hear "I'd vote for him, but I don't think he can win." What the fuck? I've also heard this regarding aging research "My $2 won't make a difference." No, no single $2 donation or vote is going to change anything, but we can't write off our cumulative power. We could learn a thing or two from the ant. Our egos get in the way. We want to be on the winning team, or to know that our efforts had an immediate, tangible benefit (which is why there are so many animal charities [not saying this is bad, just that it shows our bias]). Bill Gates has the right idea with effective altruism.

"Optimism, pessimism, fuck that; we’re going to make it happen." - Elon Musk

Relevant reading: http://www.nickbostrom.com/fable/dragon.html

[Exhuminator]

Do you really want to live forever, as a human being on planet earth?

Do you honestly think there are no benefits to aging?

How old are you?

[samsonlonghair]

Something about Elon Musk triggers my skepticism alarm.

[Thierry Henry]

Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever, forever and ever?

[ElkinFencer10]

Do you really want to live forever, as a human being on planet earth?

Do you honestly think there are no benefits to aging?

How old are you?

I want to live forever and game forever.

[TEKTORO]

The secret is to be as stress free as possible, otherwise aging is perfectly fine especially in your 30s on up you start to realize people around you are in the same boat. When your younger (20s and under) you shouldn't think about aging really. Lol

[MrPopo]

Do you really want to live forever, as a human being on planet earth?

I assume at some point we'd go interplanetary and I can hop a ship somewhere else once I get bored with the Earth.

Do you honestly think there are no benefits to aging?

To the biological process of the body slowly degrading as you get further and further from optimal child bearing age? Yes, no benefits there.

Now, there are benefits to people dying, namely that we have a finite amount of space and resources and if people stopped dying that would put immense pressure on them. But those same population pressures would help the push to space, just like the other great periods of exploration and human migration.

[Ack]

I for one am looking forward to RoboPopo.

[Glitch42]

Aging is a part of nature. I don't want to sound like a hippie freak but its the way of the world. Just imagine if EVERYONE stopped aging... The world would be over run and we'd end up living in bloody Logan's Run. The population is already too vast for the amount of resources we are consuming.
Of course this relies off of the idea that if we stop aging we will live forever.
However perhaps we could stop aging but still die at age 100. Even then, I think we'd still end up in a bad 70's movie.

[MrPopo]

Aging is a part of nature. I don't want to sound like a hippie freak but its the way of the world. Just imagine if EVERYONE stopped aging... The world would be over run and we'd end up living in bloody Logan's Run. The population is already too vast for the amount of resources we are consuming.
Of course this relies off of the idea that if we stop aging we will live forever.
However perhaps we could stop aging but still die at age 100. Even then, I think we'd still end up in a bad 70's movie.

Hence the need to push for a human presence off Earth, and maybe some exploration of underwater dwellings. "People should die because otherwise they'll eat all the food" sounds like a terrible reason to me.